David O. Williams first started at the Vail Daily in 1991, serving as sports editor, ski editor and city editor before moving in 1997 to Vail’s first newspaper, The Vail Trail, where he served as editor and started the rival Daily Trail. Beginning in the early 2000s, Williams worked as a freelance journalist for more than 75 publications, ranging from The New York Times to People Magazine to the Vail Daily again starting in 2015.
At the Vail Daily in 1994, Williams conducted the first interview with then Beaver Creek resident and former President Gerald R. Ford after the death of former President Richard Nixon, whom Ford pardoned after Watergate. In 1997, Williams won a Colorado Press Award for his Vail Trail and Vail Daily coverage of a Vail man who died in Thai police custody, changing U.S. State Department policy on local law enforcement notification for detained Americans abroad.
In 2020, his Paradise Paradox story on mental health in mountain towns was part of a Colorado Springs Gazette series that was a finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management award for mental health care reporting. That same year, his Vail Daily coverage of water-quality issues at a local mobile home park earned the Colorado Press Association best public service, series and investigative reporting awards. In 2023, the Vail Daily published a Vail history book written by Williams entitled Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail that explored the incredible life of one of Vail’s most beloved founders.
Williams has interviewed two former presidents, four Colorado governors, every living Vail mayor (and a couple who aren’t), covered three Winter Olympics, heli-skied in four states, skied in six countries and tries to click into some form of skis around 100 times a season. He lives with his wife Kristin in their EagleVail home where they raised three boys, Nick, Max and Rennick, and are still raising two goldendoodles, Monty and Chuck.
Tech billionaire Matthew Prince grew up in Park City, Utah, and has garnered plenty of headlines recently for his aggressive media campaign to buy the ski area from Vail Resorts, but last season marked the first time...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a series highlighting the Vail Public Library’s Vail Valley Voices Collection of oral histories featuring prominent local figures, particularly interviews conducted by the Vail Daily’s Tony Mauro and David O....
Vail Police Sgt. Rebecca Anderson was decisively leading 5th Judicial District chief district attorney’s investigator Jason Boston after the final round of preliminary, unofficial election results was recorded Tuesday at 11:48 p.m. The two Democrats were...
All things considered, the most recent version of the GoPro Mountain Games June 4-7 in Vail was a relative success given the unprecedented drought conditions in the Eagle River Valley. “It’s a year unlike any other since...
In 2005, when Michael Goldberg was first opening Belly Up Aspen, rival ski town Vail still had 8150 – a legendary music venue named for Vail’s elevation and steeped in a tradition of intimate, local talent...
Piney River Ranch General Manager Monique Busold spent the last 15 years of her life pouring her heart and soul into the private, 40-acre retreat, wedding and family event venue along the shores of high-altitude...
Redevelopers of the historic Red Lion project at the intersection of Hanson Ranch Road and Bridge Street in Vail Village say they’re amending their plans to increase outdoor seating and are on track to start...
Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a series highlighting the Vail Public Library’s Vail Valley Voices Collection of oral histories featuring prominent local figures, particularly interviews conducted by the Vail Daily’s Tony Mauro and David...
As the town of Vail braces for its busiest few weeks of summer visitation in early July — from multiple sporting events to big-name concerts to Vail America Days — council members this week expressed some concern...
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Dmytro Vynogradov played just one free concert this week in EagleVail. The other concert is a private event. Dmytro Vynogradov, who studied at the National Music Academy...